The present disclosure relates generally to medical devices. More particularly, it relates to an endoluminal prosthesis having multiple branches or fenestrations and systems and methods for facilitating deployment of such an endoluminal prosthesis.
Using stent grafts to treat aneurysms is common in the medical field. Stent grafts are deployed by accessing a vasculature with a small incision in the skin and guiding a delivery system to the target area. This intraluminal delivery is less invasive and generally preferred over more intrusive forms of surgery. Multiple stent grafts may be implanted using intraluminal delivery to provide a system of interconnected stent grafts. Interconnected stent grafts can be made of fenestrated stent grafts and smaller side branch grafts, including bifurcated components.
Sometimes aneurysms engulf a vessel and its branch vessels, such as the aorta and the renal arteries or the aortic arch and the branch arteries. In such instances, a fenestrated graft can be implanted in the main vessel while smaller branch grafts can be deployed in the branch arteries. The main vessel grafts have fenestrations that correspond with the openings of the branch vessels. The smaller branch grafts are joined with the main vessel graft at the fenestrations. Due to the torsion and rigors of the endovascular system, this juncture can be subject to significant stress.
Moreover, when a condition such as an aneurysm has engulfed a main vessel and multiple branch vessels, it may be relatively time consuming to deliver the smaller branch grafts needed in addition to the main graft. For example, insertion of wire guides and delivery devices may be time consuming and/or difficult to perform when multiple smaller branch grafts are deployed to cannulate multiple corresponding branch vessels.